by Greg Curtis
“As you wish honoured maiden, I will not move. But you should know that I’ve never heard of the fallen ones. To us, to me, you are all just ancients. You have been asleep in that dais for thousands of years, and much knowledge about you has been lost over that time. If you do not believe me cast a spell of truth and be sure.”
“Then why do you hide behind that weave of air? Only an assassin would come in such a guise.” She didn’t believe him, Alan could see that, hear it in her voice at least, but at least she was talking while hiding from him.
“Hide?” Alan was briefly surprised by the concept, and by the fact that she seemed more frightened of him then he was of her. That was just wrong. Still she had asked him a question and he had to answer.
“I am not hiding. I am not there with you at all. This creature that you see before you is an air elemental. A summoned servant made of the essence of air and through which I can work my will. The stone creature over yonder is an earth elemental, and outside the tunnel I carved to enter this chamber is a fire elemental. I had to use such creatures to enter the chamber without being killed by your endless traps.” Her eyes had wandered briefly to the stone elemental which, since it was standing still she had probably considered a statue if she’d even noticed it, but they didn’t stay there long.
“Traps?”
“The hell hounds, the ice drake, the fire traps, the tornado, the ice bombs and the rest. I lost four elementals just making my way to this chamber, and at that I consider myself very lucky.” Yet even as he said it he was wondering why she didn’t seem to know about the traps. Had her parents crafted them after she’d been left to her rest?
“I do not believe you.” And the terrible thing was that she seemed very sure of herself, which made no sense to him.
“Then as I say cast a truth spell and know that I do not lie. Or if not you, then awaken the rest of your family, and let them decide my truth. I will wait. I vow on the graves of my family that I mean you no harm. I am only come to ask you for your aid.”
As it turned out he had to do just that, as the ancient sorceress made up her mind in a trice and suddenly sprinted away from him and the nearest dais, to the one diagonally across the platform and furthest away from him. At least he stopped his servant from following her as was his first instinct. Better to let them come to him as they chose. He had to admit she was a fast and graceful runner, obviously athletic and well muscled but also soft and round where a woman should be, and undeniably attractive with it. It was actually nice just to watch her move. But it was wrong, it was indecent, and it still seemed to him that she was terrified of him, though why he didn’t know. In the end he didn’t turn his elemental’s sight away from her as he should have. He simply stood there, enjoying the sight and feeling guilty and somewhat confused, and let her do as she must.
The first she awoke, as he should have expected, was the elder male, her father in all likelihood, and probably the leader of the family. He watched the ancient wizard vault out of his resting chamber as lightly as a cat, and listen carefully to what his daughter whispered in his ears before she went on to the next dais. Meanwhile the father approached his elemental, warily, and also stark naked. It was a disconcerting sight, but the power the man obviously possessed was more so. Alan could feel the magic around him, taught and ready to pounce like a wild cat.
“My niece says that you are called Alan Feralis.”
“Indeed Honoured Ancient. Though as she has surely also said, this form you see before you is simply an air elemental through which I can act.” At least he hadn’t called him a liar, and yet for all that Alan knew the ancient wizard didn’t fully believe him either. His tone and posture said he didn’t trust him one single atom, and Alan would have wagered that he had some great and terrible spell already at his fingertips, but at least he was willing to listen, and for that Alan was grateful. Besides, maybe he’d be more trusting when he had some clothes on.
“I can see that, though there are few among us who can summon such creatures to their bidding, and none as complex and subtle as this one, or your stone friend.”
“Thank you. There are few alive today who can summon so many elemental forms as myself, but I am overwhelmed by your praise.” Which he was. For an ancient to praise his skills was an unexpected compliment.
“My niece said that as well. Tell me shadowy one, what is today’s date?” At last a sensible question and one he had expected and prepared for! Alan almost cheered with joy as something was finally going as he’d expected.
“It is the fifteen hundred and thirty second year since the reign of the restored Great Council began, but our scholars tell us that it is more than four and perhaps as many as five or six thousand years since you went to sleep here.” Naturally he didn’t know the date or how long he’d slept, and Alan had expected the question if not the strange and somewhat questionable title he’d given him.
“Yet we should not have slept more than fifty years. Tell me, how is it that I should believe you and not what is sensible?”
“Honoured Ancient One, my people know little of yours. But we know of your wars, and of the terrible devastation they wrought upon the world. When you are ready and willing, please come to me upon the outer terrace, and I will show you first-hand what the terrible magics of your wars have done to the nearer lands, and what thousands of years have done to repair them. You will find the world much changed. Or cast a truth spell if you prefer.”
“I may just do that. But pray tell me, why did you break into our resting chamber instead of using the door?” His eyes were gazing at the massive hole in the wall which Alan’s elemental had dug, and Alan had the distinct feeling he wasn’t happy about it. In truth he had to admit the elementals had made a terrible mess in the chamber as the fill from the hole was scattered all over the floor and the entrance to his tunnel had been right through the middle of a particularly ornate rock carving.
“Because I could not risk the terrible wards and traps that you had enchanted into the final door. The traps up to that point were deadly, but because I sent elementals in my place, survivable. But what was engraved into the door was beyond anything I have ever seen before and it filled me with great dread. I would not risk it even through an elemental. I regret if this damage has caused you upset, but I did not want to die, only to ask for your aid in the undead wars ahead.”
“We did not set any traps, only spells of concealment and confusion.” His niece had said the same and the strange thing was that Alan could detect no sign of deception. In fact he seemed remarkably honest and straight forward for an ancient. He didn’t want to disagree with him, and yet he had to point out the inconsistencies.
“Honoured Ancient, to reach you I lost four elementals and triggered perhaps a hundred or more traps, all of them deadly. Had I tried to make it through in person, I would be dead many times over. Even now I am not sure that I triggered them all, and I would not risk entering your caverns in person. I would definitely not risk opening that door. Besides, the writings on your walls speak of the traps.”
“Threats only, simply to scare away any would be enemies.”
“They certainly scared me Ancient One.”
“My niece said you killed an ice drake?” Alan couldn’t be sure, but he wondered if there might have been some sorrow in the ancient’s voice. Could the drake have been a pet? In which case thank the heavens he hadn’t harmed it.
“Nay Honoured Ancient, I merely put him to sleep. In a week or two he will awaken, none the worse for my spells. Deadly as he was I would not wish to harm such a magnificent creature. But I did regretfully have to destroy a pack of hell hounds.”
“Hellhounds! Vermin of the dark places! Their destruction is no great loss. But tell me of these traps you have undone, in detail.” The ancient had abruptly been joined by his wife who had also been listening carefully, and if anything she seemed even more in control of herself and more certain of the questions she wanted answered. Knowing it wasn’t a request so
much as an order, Alan tried to tell her exactly what he had encountered, trap by trap, step by step, and each time he thought to stop and ask a question, he was encouraged to carry on instead. Yet at least he was able to answer her. It was only that he didn’t understand why she asked the questions that troubled him. Surely they knew what traps had been set even when they claimed they hadn’t.
It was difficult to answer her fully, and not just because there were so many traps to recall. The fact of her nakedness and her husband’s weighed on him, and though it no longer shocked him as much as it had at first, it tried to send his thoughts in other directions, mainly because at whatever age she was, she was still a fine figure of a woman, as were the two daughters who had slowly crept up behind their parents, slowly growing in confidence, and yet he guessed, also holding spells of great destructive power at the ready.
Alan had had few opportunities to see elven women in the flesh, let alone naked, and because of his ancestry, he hadn’t ever expected to. He hadn’t even seen a woman of proper breeding in such a condition, and though it was hard, he obeyed his father’s edict to never seek out the women of the night. It was a small price to pay for holding to the ways of a knight, but he regretted it just then. And with three such beautiful if strange elven women facing him he found himself having difficulty concentrating. Not something a wizard should ever suffer. But in the end, he managed to tell them all he knew of what he’d faced.
“What are your thoughts Narinne?” The husband turned to his wife once Alan’s account was finished, confirming in his mind the thought that she was perhaps the true ruler of the house.
“That this one speaks the truth dear husband, though it makes no sense. That we have over slept by thousands of years. That Elishalla for some reason did not awaken us when the time came and the war was over. And that the world we knew is gone.” She was disciplined as she said it, Alan had to give her that, and yet still he felt the shock and sadness flowing from her, and from her family.
“Regretfully it is mine too. I felt nothing of deception from Alan Feralis here. Though his magic is both complex and subtle, the will and heart behind them is true. And his words make sense in a terrible way.”
“How so?” All three women turned to face him, while Alan listened intently, fascinated and all but forgotten.
“Elishalla did not awaken us when the war ended because the war did not end, or did not end as we had hoped. Alan Feralis has spoken of terrible changes wrought upon the world by the battles, changes that had not happened when we began our rest, changes that could not have been wrought without true madness and enormous preparation. But the fallen ones, they were mad enough and angry enough to do such things, and perhaps in their evil, they forced some of our own good elders to do the same, and to break their vows of service to the people.
If such a war did arise, it would take thousands of years to recover, and during that time much knowledge would be lost, as well as much new magic and knowledge would be found and these elementals are new. Far beyond the golems we have seen before, more complex than the feral elementals of our time and better controlled too. Also, our clothes which were not spelled like us, would have turned to rags over the long years.” The rags which apparently still remained in the dais’ Alan suddenly understood. At least one question had been answered.
“And the traps?”
“Traps can be used two ways sweet Esille. Alan here believed we created them to protect ourselves as we slept, to keep enemies out. But as we know, we relied on our spells of concealment and confusion only. What if however, as the war grew ever more deadly, and the fallen became weaker and more desperate, they sent their own wizards in to set the traps, not to protect us, but to prevent any from awakening us, or to stop us from ever having left our chamber alive if we did?”
“In all likelihood we would have been killed or injured as we left, and all without ever having faced the fallen in battle, only their devious evil. And the ice drake as we all know, was the favoured battle beast of Agrin, while the various stone creatures, basilisks and the like, were also much used weapons of his.”
“In any case we cannot remain here. We have no food and no clothes. Nor do we have friends waiting for us, and only a mission to fulfil that Alan Feralis wishes to tell us of. It is perhaps time to leave and discover this new world into which we have been awakened. Alan, would you lead us out of here please.”
Alan wanted to do just that, but the ancient wizard's words had left him with his own doubts, and he suddenly realized he couldn’t. Not immediately.
“Honoured Ancient Ones, I regret to say that I do not think that would be a wise path any longer.” Four pairs of eyes suddenly bored straight back into his through the elemental, and he felt decidedly uncomfortable again.
“Why not?”
“First, when I thought you had created the traps, it would have seemed the sensible thing to do, but now that you tell me otherwise, I would not advise taking that path. My elementals have triggered as many of the traps as they could, but even I cannot be sure that they have found them all. Some may yet remain untriggered awaiting the warm flesh and blood of a person rather than the magical essence of an elemental. And if you did not set them, then you will not be able to unset them as easily and safely as I had thought you would. I would counsel taking another path, literally.”
“Explain.”
“I have another dozen earth elementals up here on the terrace with me. I will send them down to you with what few provisions I have. Unfortunately I did not anticipate finding you without apparel, and so I did not bring spare clothing. However, I have some food at least. Once my elementals have arrived with you, I will have them start digging a tunnel directly out of the side of the mountain thereby avoiding any remaining traps. It will take probably the best part of a day, and if you want them to change direction they will obey your spoken words. While they do that I will attempt to locate some further provisions and clothes. There was a small farming hamlet only a few hours flight from here, and I will see what I can purchase from them.”
“Flight?”
“I will transform once again into a Roc. It is how I made it here quickly and safely.” His suggestion while sensible didn’t seem to please them entirely, and not just because of his plans.
“So you can shape shift and summon elementals without number. You are a truly gifted spellcaster, and yet you sought us out, who can do none of those things, to fight some terrible battle for your people. I fear we may not be able to help you as you wish.” Her words did not fill Alan with confidence, perhaps as she had intended. Still she had the right to know why he’d sought them out and why he believed or at least hoped that they could succeed where he couldn’t.
“Fifteen hundred years ago three of your number, Ascollia, Feylon and Trista were awakened to face the same danger as faces us now, and a full dozen spell casters died in the attempt to waken them. By the time they awoke it was already late as the undead were swarming. The first elven council was broken, as were most of the other ruling bodies of the lands, and the people were scattered. Yet they somehow managed to defeat the necromancer and his demons with ease where our wizards could not even get near to him.”
“They told us then that the necromancer was not dead but just badly weakened, held in a non-living and yet deathless state by a spell of soul warding, and that in time he would awaken once more, restore himself to his full power, and then begin anew. They also told us that others of their people would be able to destroy him again in the same way as them.”
“Ever since then the elves and the other races have kept a search going for the tombs of you and your brethren, and waited for the time when we knew the necromancer would return. But few have been found, and yours is the only one I know of in these parts. There are rumours of others further afield, but I do not know if they are correct. The elders will be able to tell you more of how the necromancer was fought and killed the first time when they meet with you. They have the writings of those t
hree Ancients kept safe in their great libraries. I do not doubt that you will succeed.” At least not that he would say out loud. Privately was another matter and the more he saw of these ancients the more he realised he knew nothing of them.
He wondered if even the elves did.
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Returning from the highland farms barely six hours later, Alan was surprised to see the mountain already had a new cave exit and terrace barely two hundred meters below where the first one was. Clearly his elementals had worked quickly. They’d also apparently developed an eye for architecture as they’d carved a great flowing archway above the entrance, tall enough for two elementals to enter, one standing on the other’s shoulders. Why he wasn’t completely sure, but it had probably helped them to increase the size of the terrace itself as it carved away the overhanging roof, and with four of them sitting there, waiting for him, and the fire elementals he’d left for warmth and protection, there wasn’t a lot of extra room.
He gave a cry, the roc form wasn’t particularly well designed for speech, and no sooner had they spotted him, he did some minor acrobatics to show them he was Alan and not some other roc, before making a slow pass over the terrace with his carry bag dangling from his feet. A bag overflowing with supplies. He’d done well at the local farms, finding not just one farmer, but a whole half dozen families, all engaged in the raising of mountain sheep and the weaving of thick, warm clothing from their wool. A very pleasant people to meet on a cold winter’s day.